The Best Things Happen at 2 AM
by MythGirl Writes
Summary: Every night, Komaru clocked in at five minutes to midnight, ready to start her shift at the diner. It was all monotonous, but she did her best to leave everyone with a smile- including Toko.


**This was from the cancelled My Inspiration: Tokomaru Zine on tumblr. It's a shame that it was cancelled, but it was a lot of fun working on it! Thanks for reading!**

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Every night, Komaru clocked in at five minutes to midnight, ready to start her shift at the diner. This wasn't her ideal job, and she knew that, but the people she worked with were friendly enough, and she made enough to live off of, so she had no real complaints. She had friends, she had a supportive family, she had somewhere to live and food to eat; what more could she ask for?

So when she worked the graveyard shift- voluntarily, she may add- she was generally happy. Her composure kept everyone on their toes, something she knew they appreciated as well so they wouldn't fall asleep on the job. She didn't want to brag, but she felt that she was one of the best waitresses on her shift, always able to leave a customer with a smile on their face.

Until Toko.

Toko started coming to the diner a few months after Komaru started working there. She already had the lay of the land figured out, and knew how to get even the grumpiest customers in a good mood. So when she first saw Toko, she didn't think of this as a challenge at all, even with the perpetual frown on Toko's lips.

"Table for one?" she asked with a peppy smile, already grabbing a menu for her new customer. Toko nodded silently, seemingly avoiding looking Komaru in the eye on purpose. No problem; she had all morning. "Right this way, please."

She couldn't help but be chatty as she led this new customer to her table. "I try to make an effort to be interpersonal with the people I wait on," she said, stopping near a table and letting Toko sit down before placing the menu in front of her. "My name is Komaru. What's yours?"

"Why do you care?" It was an unexpected question, one that caught Komaru off guard, but she kept talking before Komaru could get a word in. "I'm just here for my own concentration. I'm not here to make f-friends."

Komaru nodded slowly, like she understood what she was saying. "Okay, then. Can I get you anything to drink?" She took out her pad of paper, her pen poised and ready to write.

Her customer didn't even look down at the menu. "A cup of coffee is fine."

She knew she didn't even need to write it down, but she did anyway. "Got it! I'll be right back with that." As she turned away, she thought she heard her customer mutter something under her breath, but she must've been mistaken.

Throughout that morning, as Toko came in around two, Komaru checked in periodically like she was supposed to, but almost didn't want to. Her customer seemed to be intensely focused on writing something in a spiral notebook, and as much as she wanted to know what, she didn't want to be rude and ask. So instead, she brought the coffee, the pancakes she ordered, and an hour or two after, the check. For once, she couldn't get a customer to leave with a smile, and that bugged her to no end.

One good thing that came of that exchange, though, was her name. She signed it at the bottom of the check, of course, and though Komaru could only make out her first name- Toko- she was satisfied that she at least knew something about this mysterious customer.

She thought that would be the last time she saw Toko, but thankfully she was wrong. The next morning, Toko was there again, at the same time, and ordered the same thing. Komaru did little other than her job, though she did keep glancing over from time to time, given that she didn't have many others to wait on at the moment.

"Who're you looking at with those love-eyes?" another waitress asked. Komaru nearly jumped at the sudden question, but maintained her composure at the last second.

"I don't have love-eyes! This is the second time I've seen her." Just saying that, she couldn't help but look over once more to see Toko still focused on her notebook, pausing every so often for a sip of coffee or a bite of pancakes. A bit of something bubbled in her chest, but she didn't know what. "But...I can't shake the feeling that I want to get to know her, y'know?"

The waitress put her hand on Komaru's shoulder with a grin. "I know. That's how I met my boyfriend, remember?"

That gave her a shred of hope. But even so, she felt like she didn't want to intrude on whatever it was Toko was doing. That cycle remained the same every morning for three weeks, neither of them really conversing, until finally she decided that enough was enough.

"What do you write in there?" she asked once while escorting Toko to her usual table. It took her a couple days to notice that she always carried her notebook with her, but she found it interesting. Maybe she was a college student working on a paper, though she looked a bit older than Komaru.

As though second nature, Toko hugged her notebook closer to her chest. "N-nothing. Just some ideas I have. I-I have a deadline coming soon, and this is the only place I can concentrate enough to get a start towards it."

"Deadline? Are you a journalist?" Now they were getting somewhere with conversations. This could be her chance to make a friend, or maybe-

"Author, actually." She looked like she was about to sit, but instead offered a shaky hand. "I didn't introduce myself before, but my name is Toko. Toko Fukawa."

Komaru dimly recognized the name; her brother talked about how her books were always at the forefront of the bookstore when he went. It was pretty cool, to actually get to know an author in real life. "Nice to properly meet you, Toko. Any reason in particular for the change in heart?"

And just like that, Toko slipped her hand out of Komaru's grip. "N-no. I just wanted to. That's all." That was the extent of their socializing for the night, as much as Komaru would've loved to talk more. Plus, she could've sworn she saw the hint of a blush rise on Toko's cheeks at the same time she felt the familiar bubbling.

A week after that, Komaru couldn't stand the silence anymore. "I think I'm going to ask her out," she whispered excitedly to the other waitress one morning. The waitress was barely awake, and Komaru could tell, which was likely why she gave Komaru a thumbs-up instead of asking what was wrong with her.

"So, Toko," she said while bringing the check for the morning. It took all of her willpower to not sit down across from her; that would be extremely unprofessional. "I was thinking. Do you want to maybe go out sometime?" She was being completely straightforward, as was her way of doing most things. She supposed she seemed confident enough, but she had no way of knowing how Toko would react.

"Like a d-date?" Toko seemed to be really caught off-guard, her fingers fiddling with the tip of one of her long, ever-present braids. When Komaru nodded, an unusual expression came to Toko's face, one that Komaru wasn't sure she'd ever seen before: the beginnings of a smile. "I suppose that would be okay."

Every night, Komaru clocked in at five minutes to midnight, ready to start her shift at the diner. This wasn't her ideal job, and she knew that, but this was where some of her friends worked. This was where she met Toko. And many months later, after her early mornings spent serving with a smile, she was happy to know that she always had Toko to come home to.


End file.
